Do goods and services worth less than 200,000 VND require invoices in Vietnam?

Do goods and services worth less than 200,000 VND require invoices in Vietnam?

In Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP on rules for issuance, management and use of invoices and records as follows:

Rules for issuance, management and use of invoices and records

1. When selling goods or providing services, the seller shall issue and send invoices to buyers (including goods/services used for sales promotion, advertising or as samples, goods/services gifted, donated, exchanged or used as salary payment to employees and internal use (except goods which are internally rotated in production process), and goods rented, lent or returned). Such invoices shall have adequate contents written according to the provisions in Article 10 hereof, except e-invoices which must follow the standard format prescribed by tax authorities as prescribed in Article 12 hereof.

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Previously, according to Article 18 of Circular 39/2014/TT-BTC (expired), there was a regulation that selling goods and services with a total payment price of less than 200,000 VND each time did not need to issue invoices.

However, according to the new regulations, in principle, the seller must issue an invoice to the buyer when selling goods or providing services regardless of the value each time they arise (Except in cases where goods are circulated internally to continue the production process, enterprises and production facilities do not have to issue invoices.).

Therefore, according to current regulations, sales of goods and services with a total payment price of less than 200,000 VND each time must still issue invoices.

Note: Issuing invoices includes cases for goods and services used for promotion, advertising, and sample goods; goods and services used to give, donate, exchange, pay instead of wages to employees and for internal consumption in Vietnam. Export goods in the form of lending, lending or returning goods.

Do goods and services worth less than 200,000 VND require invoices in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

When are invoices for sale of goods issued in Vietnam?

Article 9 of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP stipulates the time of invoice issuance. In particular, the time of issuance of the goods sale invoice is determined as the time of transfer of ownership or rights to use the goods to the buyer, regardless of whether money has been collected or not.

In the case of multiple deliveries of goods, the time of invoice issuance is the time of each delivery corresponding to the volume and value of the delivered goods in Vietnam.

How much is fine for not issuing invoices when selling goods in Vietnam?

Clause 5, Article 5 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP stipulates sanctioning principles as follows:

Principles for sanctioning administrative violations of taxes and invoices

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5. For a tax or invoice-related administrative violation, if an entity commits such violation, they must be fined two times as much as the amount of penalty imposed on persons, except the amounts of penalty for the acts prescribed in Article 16, 17 and 18 herein.

At Point a, Clause 4, Article 7, Decree 125/2020/ND-CP stipulates principles of imposition of fines as follows:

Sanctioning forms, remedies and principles of imposition of fines for tax or invoice-related administrative violations

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4. Principles for applying fines

a) The fine levels specified in Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, Clauses 1 and 2, Article 19 and Chapter III of this Decree are the fine levels applicable to organizations.

For taxpayers who are households and businesses, the same fines are applied as for individuals.

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In Article 24 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP on penalties for violations against regulations on issuance of invoices upon sale of goods or provision of services, specifically:

Penalties for violations against regulations on issuance of invoices upon sale of goods or provision of services

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2. Fines ranging from VND 500,000 to VND 1,500,000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

a) Failing to issue general invoices in accordance with laws on invoices for sale of goods or provision of services;

b) Failing to invoice promotional, advertising or sample goods or services; goods and services used as gifts, donations, presents, swaps or employee’s payment-in-kind wages, except for internally circulated or consumed goods for further production purposes.

3. Fines ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for any act of issuing invoices at the wrong time, but not to the extent of causing any deferred payment of tax obligations, except as prescribed in point a of clause 1 of this Article.

4. Fines ranging from VND 4,000,000 to VND 8,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following violations:

a) Issuing invoices at the wrong time in breach of laws on invoices for sale of goods or provision of services, except as provided in point a of clause 1 and 3 of this Article;

b) Issuing invoices without conforming to the statutory ascending numerical sequence, except when the penalty in the form of caution prescribed in point b of clause 1 of this Article is imposed;

c) Issuing invoices with the invoicing dates coming ahead of the dates of purchase of invoices from tax authorities;

d) Issuing invoices not conforming to classifications prescribed in laws on invoices for sale of goods and provision of services if these invoices have already been handed to buyers or used for the completion of tax declaration procedures, except in the case of imposition of the penalty in the form of caution as provided in point c of clause 1 of this Article;

dd) Issuing e-invoices when having not yet receiving notices of consent from tax authorities or before the dates of consent to using e-invoices with/without tax authority’s codes from supervisory tax authorities;

e) Issuing invoices for sale of goods and provision of services during the period of temporary business closure, except when issuing invoices to clients for the purpose of implementing contracts signed before the date of notification of such temporary business closure;

g) Issuing e-invoices by using cash registers without network connection or transfer of electronic data to tax authorities.

5. Fines ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for any act of failing to issue invoices upon sale of goods or provision of services to buyers as required by laws, except the acts prescribed in point b of clause 2 of this Article.

Thus, failure to issue invoices in each case will result in fines corresponding to the following levels:

[1] Fine from 500,000 VND to 1,500,000 VND for organizations and from 250,000 VND to 750,000 VND for individuals, households, and business households for the following acts:

a) Failing to issue general invoices in accordance with laws on invoices for sale of goods or provision of services;

b) Failing to invoice promotional, advertising or sample goods or services; goods and services used as gifts, donations, presents, swaps or employee’s payment-in-kind wages, except for internally circulated or consumed goods for further production purposes.

[2] Fine from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND for organizations and from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND for individuals, households, and business households for failure to issue invoices when sell goods and provide services to other buyers.

In addition, failure to issue invoices is considered tax evasion and will be sanctioned and remedial measures will be taken according to Article 17 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP.

Best regards!